The evidence from Buffalo and elsewhere strongly suggests that Onorato has the better argument. Regional pilots are undertrained, they lack the experience of other pilots and they rely too much on automation to fly their planes.
That lethal combination of factors was likely the cause of death for 49 people in the Town of Clarence last February, when pilot Marvin Renslow lost control of Continental Connection Flight 3407. The propeller jet—slowed by icing on the wings, hobbled by inattention from the crew, condemned by inadequate training—plummeted into a house, killing one resident and everyone on the airplane.
Indeed, that crash offered a microcosm of all that is wrong with regional airlines. Its crew was low paid, a practice that drives away experienced pilots. Co-pilot Rebecca L. Shaw felt pressured to work though she was ill. Renslow hadn’t been trained in pulling out of a stall; indeed, he took exactly the wrong action when the plane stalled. He overused the plane’s autopilot function. What is more, in the case of the Clarence and who know in what other instances, the crew violated in-flight rules by talking about non-flight issues at elevations below 10,000 feet.
Sounds to me like this article was written by someone who couldn't tell the difference between a Dash8 and a horse. How exactly do you overuse the plane's autopilot function to crash the airplane? Propeller jet? Huh???
Just because you have crap regional training doesn't mean it's the same at every single regional.
10-10-2010
AIRLINE
